Montoya Re-Signs; Other Tuesday Tidbits

The Islanders have had a couple of very busy off days, despite the fact that the season is winding down and they were officially eliminated from post season contention over the weekend.

Speaking of which, I said it in our weekly podcast and I'll say it again: for a team that put itself in quite the hole back in November and December, to get eliminated with only six games remaining is something that they can hang their hats on. I have to give some credit where it's due, namely to many of the players who quickly turned their seasons around and Jack Capuano. Good job by all to have some sustained strong play for a good chunk of the season. For a young team to play as well as they have from mid-December on is a positive sign for next season and not just "playing loose and with nothing to lose."

Now on to the bigger news items that I wanted to bring up.

The Islanders announced that they have re-signed goalie Al Montoya to a one-year, one-way contract extension for the 2011-2012 season. The deal is much deserved for a goalie who his finally getting to live out his dream since being the 6th overall pick in the 2004 draft by the New York Rangers.

Al Montoya will return for 2011-2012. Photo by C. Hessel

After Kevin Poulin went down with an injury, some fans were upset that the goalie Garth Snow ended up dealing for was Montoya rather than a Michael Leighton or a Jonas Gustavsson. I'll admit I was a little disappointed, but at the end of the day was not surprised that Montoya was a guy the Isles would take a chance on given their situation and Montoya's.

The deal has turned out to be a bit of a steal thus far. As injuries up front and on defense continued to mount, the Islanders and Montoya have generally still found ways to win. More often than not, it was Montoya who was standing on his head being tested with 35+ shots a game. Considering how frequently that has happened, his 2.35 GAA and .923 SV% speaks for itself.

Over the weekend, MSG+ statistician Eric Hornick pointed out that Montoya was actually slated to become a UFA at seasons end, which was contrary to everyone's belief. Some feared that the Islanders would fumble the ball and not bring Montoya back.

In the end though, both sides did the smart thing. The Islanders gave Montoya his chance to prove he belongs in the NHL, and Montoya realized this was his best chance to stick in the league. He has looked so comfortable here, especially after Sudsie Maharaj tweaked his game a little bit. The cost was never going to be an issue for him when it came to next season.

The Islanders now have some very capable net minders in the system to spell Rick DiPietro. Montoya has been the number one since about a week after being traded for. Kevin Poulin showed us all flashes of what he can do when healthy. Mikko Koskinen was very up and down and is slated for a spot in Bridgeport next season, while Nathan Lawson will be seeking a new organization.

Snow said in one of the recent "GM Show" segments that he hopes to have five goalies in the organization next season. When we talked about this on our show, after Sean went through all of the goalies he would like to see them go after I told him not to get his hopes up. With the expected signing of Anders Nilsson, the Islanders would then have five goalies in the organization. This is of course, barring a trade of someone like Koskinen.

At the end of the day, Montoya deserved this extension and if you assume he can keep this up, gives the Islanders some more stability in net for next season. When it comes to that position, given DiPietro's constantly changing status, you don't mess with what is working when someone comes in and makes the most of whatever opportunity is provided to him.

WEIGHT DONE: The team also announced on Tuesday that Doug Weight will be out for the remainder of the season.

The expectation now is that Weight will retire and remain in the organization in some capacity. This has been widely speculated.

The series of evens that have surrounded Weight's time on the Island are really unfortunate. His first season here, he looked like someone who could help this team for a few years as his career wound down and the Islanders grew with younger players. But Weight started to suffer injuries, which cut short a pretty good 2008-2009 campaign. Since then, Weight has experienced various back issues, with the latest one posing a risk for permanent damage.

I am a little disappointed when I read some comments from Islanders fans on message boards when it comes to the captain of the team. While I understand the concerns people have about the captain not being on the ice with the team, the fact of the matter is that the players voted him in as the captain. It was pretty much unanimous. To say that he should have had the 'C' stripped is utterly ridiculous.



Doug Weight is likely headed to retirement. Photo by C. Hessel

Weight's career may not end the way many of us wanted to see it, but he can certainly keep his head high with all of the things he has accomplished in his career.
Weight was a guy I always liked and felt was always a bit underrated, so I was so happy to see him add that final Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. Weight's next stop will be the U.S. Hockey Hall of fame, with a decent shot and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

When it comes to his post-playing days, I agree with what Deb Kaufman said on NHL Home Ice on XM this afternoon. Deb said that she felt that Weight was destined for a front office job more so than a coaching position seeing as how the thinking is that Weight wants to be more involved with the creation of a team similar to the way Steve Yzerman got involved.

JURCINA, GERVAIS HURT: Along with the Isles losing Andrew MacDonald for the remainder of the season due to a torn labrum in his hip (the 3rd one for the Isles this season), Milan Jurcina has tweaked his hip flexor while Bruno Gervais remained out with a foot problem. Both Dylan Reese and Mark Katic have been called up in case one or both of them cannot go Wednesday against the Devils.

If there was ever a time for injuries to mount, I suppose this would be it. However, the scary thing is that this has been happening quite frequently, especially in the case of Jurcina and MacDonald, who have suffered multiple injuries per season for the past few years.

As we said in the show, durability on the blue line is something that may need to be looked into in the offseason. Lets hope both can return and play the string of games out and not set the team back any further in their quest for a .500 season.

NEW PRICING ANNOUNCED: The Islanders announced their new pricing structure on Monday for tickets.


There is a significant slash across the board, with many seats appearing to have a 20% reduction. The Islanders were somehow among the league leaders in average ticket prices, having similar or slightly higher prices than the world champion Chicago Blackhawks and the previous winners in the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Along with the decrease, the Islanders plan to add and even bring back some of the perks for season ticket holders that have since disappeared.

The Islanders had a chance to score big with fan relations this offseason, and they have gotten the ball rolling early with these prices. I know of many folks who are rethinking their decisions on tickets, as many had previously decided not to come back.

Good stuff all around. You need to take baby steps when you have a fan base as loyal as this one that has been banged around so to speak. This is a start, and a great one at that.

LEVY QUITTING: Although it may not seem like anything Earth shattering, Steve Levy's announcement that he will not run for re-election as Suffolk County Executive is a bit noteworthy when it comes to the Isles.

In the past, lost among all of the talk of where the Isles should go if Nassau doesn't work out for them, is Levy repeatedly saying he would be welcome to having the Isles move further East. He has never been contacted, but on the rare occasion he was asked he repeated these same thoughts.

This doesn't mean that if Charles Wang was really willing to relocated to Suffolk that it can't happen anymore. I don't think Suffolk was ever being seriously considered as a destination for the Isles, but at this stage in the game any time a proponent leaves the picture you can't help but do a double take.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

For those who haven't listened to or watched it yet, our weekly radio show can be seen on our UStream site or downloaded through our MyPodcast site. Enjoy!

Our friend Johnny Z. of Yes! Islanders has his latest installment of "Islanders Top Shelf" out with guest Brad Kurtzberg of Inside Hockey.

Like It or Not, DP Will Get Chance

1:45 PM - A couple of corrections.

First, I was off on thinking DiPietro would start tonight. Montoya gets the start tonight which means DiPietro is likely for tomorrow against the Panthers.

Which brings me to my next point. I'm jumping the gun on who the Isles play next. They go to Florida, not Tampa. Tampa comes next week. My apologies. Still, the point was you want to ice the strongest line-up against a stronger team, and that should mean Montoya in net for that one.

9:30 AM - There are some times where being proven wrong doesn't hurt a lot. This is one of those times.

The Islanders activated Rick DiPietro off of IR on Wednesday. Back in early February when he got hurt, I said that I expected him to be out for the entire season.

But the swelling has gone down for now, and DiPietro's comeback continues.

There comes a point in time when a comeback is no longer considered one. Believe it or not, we haven't yet reached that point. In all honesty, and I know some of you will hate to hear this, we are still in the early stages of this attempted comeback.

If you expected DiPietro to get into 40, 45 or even 50 games this year, then I'll tip my hat to you. There weren't many out there, and neither Sean nor myself were among those.

The reality of the situation is that going into this season, DiPietro felt the best he had in a number of years. He started out a bit slow, but was steadily getting better until the time of his injuries. I won't call them a setback, but rather on par for what I expected out of DiPietro this season.

I wanted to see if he could get through 25-30 games. Depending on how many starts he gets in these last 11 games, he realistically could hit that mark. But that would only be step one.

Step two would have been completing a season relatively pain free in getting to that number. Then in the offseason, evaluate where he is and give it a go again next season.

Right or wrong, this wasn't going to be a one year thing. DiPietro wasn't going to magically get his touch back and be at the top of his game after all that missed time. This is going to be a while. At this point, as cruel as it may seem the fans have to accept the fact that his contract is immovable, and his will to play the game has not wavered. As long as those two items remain constant, then there is no reason to think that his time is almost done. DiPietro will be attempting to play so long as he physically can. There is not going to be anyone who can tell him otherwise, not even a doctor.

If he heals the right way, and takes a very slow approach to all of this he can be pain free. For that reason, no doctor will tell him he can't do it anymore - they would be lying at this point in time.

So DiPietro returns and Nathan Lawson goes back to Bridgeport. If Al Montoya can keep up his play and continue the way he has, then we'll have a very capable goalie for the remaining games should anything bad happen with DiPietro.

NESS SIGNS: As I mentioned in the last post, as was speculated, Aaron Ness has decided to forego his senior season at the University of Minnesota and signed his entry level deal with the Islanders.

Ness was taken in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft. Despite his size, various scouting reports had him going anywhere from the late 1st to the middle of the 2nd round. He has loads of offensive skill, but unfortunately didn't get a chance to show that off while at the struggling program in Minnesota.

Leaving college early is something that has always plagued the NCAA, but more so now - especially at Minnesota.

Perhaps it's because of the way the NHL is going, and with many teams right at the cap ceiling looking for cheaper talent. The league is relying more and more on special teams, speed and skating, and Ness can do well with those three items. So while the size may be an issue for him right now, within the next year or so as he fills up even more, he can be passable and certainly on par for many others in the NHL.

The program at Minnesota, meanwhile continues to flounder. As of September, a grand total of 15 players left the program since the 2005-2006 season, and a total of 31 in head coach Don Lucia's tenure there (beginning in 1999-2000). Since 2007, Minnesota is 70-59-24 with one playoff appearance. As years go on here, we see why Kyle Okposo was in favor of leaving the program. He's is obviously not alone when you see the staggering amount that have left in the past four years.

Ness will report to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on a ATO for now, and his entry level deal won't kick in until next season. So he'll get to strut his stuff for the next few weeks to give the organization a taste of what they have and where they can go from there.

Ness will make his debut Friday.

ISLES IN CAROLINA: The Islanders go to Raleigh tonight to take on the Carolina Hurricanes, who don't have much room for error. They currently sit two points behind the Rangers for the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference. They have a very strong team that has had some inconsistency issues this season. Their offence is very good, with Eric Staal leading the way and rookie of the year candidate Jeff Skinner having the unlikely all-star season he has had. Cory Stillman has been a very good deadline pick-up for the Canes, as he has six points in 10 games.

The Islanders wouldn't say if DiPietro or Montoya would be starting, but coach Jack Capuano hinted that just because DiPietro is returning doesn't mean he'll play right away.

I'll say theres a good chance that DiPietro gets one of these back-to-back games. I hate making these kinds of predictions, but perhaps the Isles will want to save Montoya for Dwayne Roloson and the Lightning. They will want a strong performance for that game for obvious reasons. We'll just have to wait and see until we get reports from the Isles morning skate in Carolina.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles 4, Wild 1; Gillies to Have In-person Hearing

The Minnesota Wild are battling for their playoff lives, and their road trip got off to a start that they needed to avoid.

The Islanders had an excellent effort against a fairly good team, especially goaltender Niklas Backstrom who has had the Isles number since he came into the league. Backstrom was chased after giving up three unanswered goals, two to Blake Comeau.

Speaking of Comeau, there must be something with him when playing teams from the West. He now has 10 points in just 16 games when playing teams from the other conference this season. It was a year to the day after Comeau got his hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks right after the Olympic break last season. He appears to be well on his way to notch 20 goals this year (currently at 17) which would give the Isles their 4th 20 goal scorer on the year.

I thought Frans Nielsen made some really nice plays out there, but he would tell you otherwise. Despite his three assist performance, he didn't seem too happy with his play in the postgame. I thought his play was pretty good, and can't really point to anything specific that would be considered poor. Perhaps Nielsen, one of the better defensive players in the game, has very high standards for himself and is still upset about the game against the Caps, when he was spun around multiple times by quick passing plays and Alex Ovechkin.

Al Montoya, starting after Nathan Lawson got the nod in Washington and played really well, didn't seem to miss a beat. There was no hitch in his play that would lead one to believe he was worried that his job could be on the line. Obviously, the Isles have both goaltenders battling it out for a spot in the NHL, be it here or elsewhere next season. But Montoya had taken over that starting job, and with a 1.93 GAA through his time as an Islander, the job should be his for now. Lawson hasn't been too great more often than not, and doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt just yet. For now, I see Tuesday's game in Washington as the outlier.

One of the biggest story lines in this game was Trevor Gillies returning to the line-up after missing nine games due to a suspension from the hit against Eric Tangradi in the infamous February 11th game against the Penguins. Tangradi has been sidelined with a concussion since Gillies elbowed him in the head in response to running and hurting Jack Hillen. Tangradi immediately felt the pain, and Gillies still threw some punches as Tangradi fell to the ice.

It took almost two minutes of ice time for Gillies to get in trouble again. Cal Clutterbuck boarded Justin DiBenedetto, and Gillies came in and hit Clutterbuck, causing him to fall and hurt himself in the process.

I have no doubt that Clutterbuck embellished his injury a bit. But regardless of what Clutterbuck, who appeared destined for a five minute major and a game misconduct, had done there was no need for the equally as childish actions from Gillies.

While Clutterbuck never would have accepted a challenge from Gillies, that's what you do in this situation. When he declines, everyone rides him for not fighting his own fights, and then you have guys like Matt Martin and Zenon Konopka let the hits fly fast and furiously on guys like Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Martin Havlat. In that scenario, Clutterbuck gets frowned upon for angering the Isles once again and for not accepting the fight.

Instead, Gillies comes in and takes the "eye for an eye" approach with a cheap-shot. I don't care if it's from the front, back, side - whatever you want it to be - it was still a cheap shot and the wrong way to respond in that situation.

For Gillies, this is the exact same situation as Chris Simon in the sense that their on-ice decision making, when it comes to how to properly enforce a game is way off. Gillies has the right idea, but goes about it in the completely wrong way, especially at a time when the NHL is all of a sudden deciding to take a stand for plays like these.

Gillies has a hearing in Toronto scheduled for Friday, and will undoubtedly be suspended for quite some time. Coming off a lengthy suspension and making a decision as poor as this one won't help him at all. Over the past couple of weeks, Martin has improved his play and guys like Konopka and Haley have enforced the game in good ways, and contributed as passable hockey players on the ice. In the meantime, and I know this may not be too popular with some of you, Gillies is proving to be nothing other than what many have said about him the past few weeks - a goon.

We'll see how hard the NHL comes down on Gillies, and if Clutterbuck gets anything. He was destined to in my opinion, perhaps until his injury. He may actually be concussed, but should still get something for his action too.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Tough One in Washington

For just over 59 minutes, the Islanders battled and held on for dear life. Nothing was getting past Nathan Lawson, and after a while you got the feeling that he was going to go all the way with the 1-0 lead Matt Moulson had given him.

With 47 seconds remaining, however it all came crashing down.

It figures that the Capitals can't score on a power-play, but they pull their goalie for a six on five advantage on cash in.

It was Brooks Laich once again. On Saturday I spoke highly of him here in this space, and how he's the type of guy many team's fans would LOVE to have. He was in the right spot at the right time, and got a nice pass that he was able to corral perfectly.

Alex Ovechkin has struggled this year, but every time he goes on a rush you still get that sick feeling in your stomach. Ovechkin's ability to pick the puck up in the defensive zone and gain as much speed as he does for a big body is simply amazing. But in that rush in OT, he made some of the Isles, like Frans Nielsen look completely silly. It's goals like this one that shows you why Ovechkin sill is one of the top players in the game, despite the "low" goal total.

I thought the Isles played well, but obviously the defense was very lose. Given what we've seen from Lawson so far, it's always safe to assume toe worst when any team gets as many shots in as the Caps did. But he stood tall, and made some really good saves. He was very alert and didn't leave too many pucks in the danger zones. The Caps did have a couple of nice chances, but either couldn't hit the spot or shanked the shots.

Michael Neuvirth, meanwhile, was great only when he needed to be. The Isles didn't test the Caps very much at all. He seems to do really well with the glove saves. we've seen it now for two games in a row. So the scouting report on him is to go anywhere but glove side.

The Caps finished the season series in a unique way, defeating a different Isles goalie for the fourth time (Dwayne Roloson, Rick DiPietro and Al Montoya the others).

The Islanders come right home and face a team battling for their playoff lives in the Minnesota Wild. They lost a tough one to the Chicago Blakhawks their last time out, so will come on their East trip looking to keep themselves right in the thick of things. Nicklas Backstrom has been outstanding in net for them for the last little while, so expect a solid performance in that department. After struggling to score at the beginning of the year, Martin Havlat has really picked things up. He's a guy to watch as far as the offense is concerned.

I always like seeing teams come in that we don't see very often, and I was high earlier this year when many folks weren't. This is a very underrated team that can't be taken lightly.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Blow Lead to Caps in front of Full House; New NYI FYI Sunday

The Islanders had a large and loud crowd on hand Saturday night to see them take on the Washington Capitals. Unfortunately, by the end of the night those who were in support of the Caps walked away happy.

The Isles had a 1-0 lead on a nice looking goal by Kyle Okposo as he Faked shifted into the slot and snapped a shot past goaltender Michael Neuvirth. It was just Okposo's 3rd goal of his injury shortened season.

The Isles would get a 2-0 lead on a knuckle ball shot that Neuvirth barely had a chance to see. It only took 33 seconds into the second period for Hamonic to get his 3rd of the season.

It was at that point where the Caps began to press, and get some of their chances. The Isles had been out-shooting the Caps 20-9 at one point, but things slowly turned in their favor.

Brooks Laich came out of the box after serving a penalty and Neuvirth hit him with a pass. He powered his way to the net and took a real nice shot that got through Montoya. Laich, who will be a UFA this summer, showed why many Isles fans on messages boards have been hoping that the Isles would make a run at him. He brings an element to a game that not many can provide, and certainly with much more consistency than anyone currently on the Isles.

Mike Knuble and Alex Semin would score about three minutes apart in the third to give the Caps a lead they would hold on to. Knuble's goal was on a broken play in front after Jack Hillen was taken behind the net, leaving Ty Wishart as the only defenseman covering and Josh Bailey scrambling to try and help.

Jack Capuano told us in the post game after that he thought they competed well against a tough team, but did have some lapses.

The one glaring issue however, was the power-play. "I felt our power-play was flat tonight," Capuano was quick to point out. I couldn't agree more, and on Twitter I pointed out that the Isles were playing too much on the perimeter with the man advantage. It's fine to get some looks for the defensemen and to try and create rebounds, but the Caps blocked a ton of shots coming in from the outside, especially early on. That is when you have to make changes and adapt to what your opponent is doing.

The locker room was very solemn after the game last night and for obvious reasons. Not only did they lose a game they could have easily won, but they also can be losing some friends. One look at Nathan Lawson's or Rob Schremp's face, and you could tell there was some pain there.

That is the other aspect in all of this. However, at the end of the day it is Garth Snow's job to build a successful hockey team. Having spoken to both Schremp and Lawson in the past, I can tell you they would probably say themselves how they haven't stepped up in the way they should have. In the case of Lawson, he seemed like he feared his NHL career may be over just as quickly as it started.

Regardless of that, we'll see what happens. There's a decent chance Schremp may be claimed by someone, while it's expected Lawson will clear waivers by noon Monday. There were a decent amount of scouts milling around the Coliseum, and the Isles even had scouts at some of the other games going around. There wasn't much talk in the press box of anything going on when it comes to the Isles. But as I said yesterday, expect the unexpected. If there's one thing we learned so far this year in the NHL, it's that almost anyone can be had for the right price.

NEW NYI FYI EPISODE: As usual, Sean and I will be getting together for our latest installment of the NYI FYI radio show at 11 AM. Please feel free to watch us and participate by going to our UStream page. There is a chat room that is up and running there, and we always read thoughts and questions from there. You can also feel free to @ us on Twitter with your thoughts and questions.

Enjoy guys!

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Schremp, Lawson Waived; Value of Radek Martinek; Caps in Town

The Islanders announced on Saturday that both Rob Schremp and Nathan Lawson have been placed on waivers.

The Schremp move comes as no surprise. When the Isles sent down Jeremy Colliton and Jesse Joensuu, I said on our Twitter page that it was most likely for a last ditch attempt at trying to showcase Schremp to the rest of the league. In keeping with what has been the norm for him for the better part of two months, Schremp was unimpressive in his 17:55 minutes of ice time. I let my feelings be known about how I felt about his performance in the game recap.

Obviously, as expected there is no market at this time for a guy like Schremp. In a league where you value every player that is on your roster thanks to salary cap constraints, no one is trading anyone of value for a million dollar player with a ten cent head. For some guys, the second chance isn't enough. Sometimes they need a third or a fourth to finally "get it." Schremp is an obvious candidate for that because of his talent level.

I'll say that there is somewhat of a chance that Schremp could be claimed by another team looking to possibly bump up their power play. But that remains a long shot. If not claimed, Schremp may stick around but could see significant time in Bridgeport for the last 20 games of the year.

Lawson, above, and Schremp were waived. Photo by C. Hessel

Lawson, on the other hand will not be claimed. If he clears, he is likely to stay up unless the Isles claim Ty Conklin, Pascal Leclaire or Curtis McElhinney on waivers, or make a trade for another one. I'm not anticipating them doing any of that, so I'd expect to see Lawson remain.

One other possibility is that Rick DiPietro could be close to returning. However, this is an unlikely scenario. We haven't heard anything from DiPietro as far as even skating on his own. It still appears that he is likely out for the season and is a non-factor when it comes to this move (this was the fourth week of that 4-6 week time period, by the way).

Both moves are just to give the Isles some flexibility in the event they find a move they would like to make between now and Monday. It is not written in stone that they will no longer be Islanders. With the Islanders unlikely to make any moves of significance by Monday, I would be a little more surprised if they didn't remain in the organization or with the team.


MARTINEK'S VALUE: Last Sunday, Sean and I got into a whole discussion about the deals that have already been made in the NHL and about how they may effect the market going forward.

Let's face it - no one expected the amount of trades that have happened already. With a week left before the deadline, it's becoming harder to envision what players will still be around to move.

In all seriousness, there is still a lot of players on trading blocks across the league. One thing we learned over the past two weeks was that defensemen are in very high demand.

The league has suffered a lot more injuries than it has in past seasons, with teams such as the Montreal Canadiens being affected on defense.

So far rentals like Tomas Kaberle headed to Boston, Eric Brewer went to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ian White landed in San Jose. On waivers, Craig Rivet and Nick Boynton were claimed for teams looking for depth.
But what about some other shut-down guys? Teams would love to add a player like Ottawa's Chris Phillips. But what about those that lose out on him? This is where the Islanders can potentially come in.

It has been mentioned in various reports, for example in TSN analyst Daren Dreger's daily column, that the Isles have been shopping Radek Martinek around in hopes of landing a 2nd round pick for the oft-injured blue liner.

Some folks may look at that and scoff, but look at what the market has brought back in return this season. Team's are not afraid to toss these higher draft picks around since it has been said that this is a "weak" draft year.

White brought the Hurricanes a 2nd round pick. Brewer got the Blues a 3rd and prospect Brock Beukeboom.

While Martinek isn't on the same level offensively as these guys, he is better defensively. Last season, the Sharks gave up a 2nd round pick to Carolina for Niclas Wallin and a 5th rounder. Wallin is essentially a clone of Martinek in both age, style and for the amount of injuries each have suffered.

Wallin is no longer in the league right now, as some people suspect could be the case with Martinek after the summer. But this is the kind of deal Snow should be looking at. We know he likes to add first, second or third round picks. Martinek alone could be worth a 3rd with the prices that are being paid, and if you throw a 4th or 5th rounder in with him, Snow could easily walk away with a 2nd.

While Martinek may be down with an injury for now, and something that didn't look serious, the fact that he is just listed as "day-to-day" for now is unsurprising. The Islanders can't risk any further injury to Martinek. As a matter of fact, it would not surprise me to see Martinek suddenly better and available for Tuesday's game in Washington if he's still here.

The decision is Snow's. Last year, he decided it wasn't worth a 3rd or 4th rounder to deal away guys like Martin Biron or Richard Park, feeling it wouldn't make sense to take those two away from the roster with a return like that.

Does he feel the same way this season though, with an oft-injured 35 year old defenseman in his final year, and with eight defenseman (Ty Wishart and Jack Hillen will be qualified) on the roster so far for next season, as well as Calvin deHaan knocking at the door?

We'll find out over the next couple of days.

CAPS vs. ISLES, "WHITE-OUT": The Caps visit the Isles tonight for "White-out the Red" day. Fans have organized a white-out for a game where it looks like the Coliseum may be pretty packed.

The Isles have had great ticket deals, not to mention some hot play since the Pittsburgh game and fans have taken notice. They have let the team know that they are proud of them right now.

The Isles come off a tough loss in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the Capitals come off an even tougher one against the Rangers. Al Montoya needs to be at the top of his game once again, despite how much the Caps are struggling to score goals this season.

The Caps tried to address that today by claiming Marco Sturm off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings. It appears we will not be playing for the Caps just yet.

For those going, remember to wear something white.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Parenteau Signs Extension; Isles Lose

In the span of just two games, we got to see both the best and worst of Nate Lawson.

Lawson didn't look good at all against the Boston Bruins, and they chased him just a couple of minutes into the 2nd period, after scoring their fifth goal against him. He looked very uneasy and sloppy in covering the posts. When he came out of the net trying to make what would normally be a confident play, he seemed to slide way out of position. We already knew about some of his rebound problems, and we saw some of those again Thursday night.

Al Montoya came in and looked OK. He has issues with rebounds as well, and you can certainly see signs in his game that tell you he's a guy who has played only against NHL talent for the better part of five years, but his effort on Thursday was better than Sunday - which wasn't hard to accomplish.

It appeared like there was a bigger crowd than normal at this game. It's a shame that the Isles came out with this kind of game. People were obviously excited to see this team coming off the brawl and four straight wins. At the very least, they were expecting an exciting game and figured the Isles would give the Bruins a run for their money.

Within a couple of blinks of the eye, it was 2-0 Bruins and the Islanders were reeling and scrambling all over the place. Quite frequently throughout the night, the Bruins had periods where they were just dominating puck possession and all five skates for the Isles would be deep in the zone allowing the Bruins to get better shots. That created a lot of the rebounds that they would cash in on.

The Isles can't afford to get into lapses like that. A game like this can ruin all of the good things they have worked on the last couple of weeks. You don't want old habits sneaking back into your game.

Meanwhile, Josh Bailey and John Tavares had good efforts in this one. Tavares scored a beauty of a goal for his first of the night, and that's something we've seen more and more out of him. He's well on his was to crack the 30-goal plateau this season, which would be a huge accomplishment. Bailey scored again on a nice slapper in the slot after Blake Comeau's shot was blocked. Bailey has been racking up some assists lately, and has started to put the puck in the net again over the past two games. Hopefully he can get out of what has essentially been a season long slump for him.

The Isles don't have much time to stew over this one, which is good. They get right back at it Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings.

PARENTEAU RE-SIGNED: On Thursday afternoon, the Isles announced that they have re-signed winger P.A. Parenteau to a one-year extension, worth $1.25 million.

As Sean and I have said on the show over the last couple of weeks, while we are still hoping that there is a better option for Tavares to play with after trades or free agency, you can't argue with bringing him back for another go. Parenteau is on pace for 50 points and hasn't been terrible on the power-play.

He has improved as a player over the last couple of months, but there are still some holes in his game here and there. Obviously, this is a deal that has many people wondering if it means the Isles aren't serious about adding another forward or two over the summer, but I'm not going to be quick to jump to that conclusion. Last summer, the Isles used what few bullets they had in the gun to go after defense. With a number of options for next season on the blue-line already, I still feel that the Isles are going to try and use their bullets this summer to go after forwards.

Should they fail in their attempt to bring in someone from the out side, then they have Parenteau as a fall back, one that they know can give them 50 points skating along side Tavares and Matt Moulson. If they are successful in bringing someone in, then they shift him down to the 2nd or 3rd line while still giving him significant power-play opportunities.

One thing I do think that this confirms is that Rob Schremp will no longer be a part of this team in 2011-2012. Schremp has been in and out of the line-up all season, and has also been demoted to 4th line duty now. As the Islanders as a collective unit try and get better, Schremp has regressed. The game after Jack Capuano talked about having some "selfish players," Schremp was the only one who was affected as that was the fist time he was demoted.

I saw some of the comments fans were making after the Parenteau announcement. I'm firmly in the camp that it is way too early to say that this affects how the team makes their decisions in the summer. Last season, Garth Snow said he wanted to go hard after defensemen, specifically two. Early in free agency both Milan Jurcina and Mark Eaton were brought in. When the opportunity presented itself at the end of July, Snow dealt a 3rd round pick to Anaheim for James Wisniewski. While Wisniewski wouldn't stick around for very long, Snow saw the opportunity there to possibly get better despite having a full (when healthy) defense.

So hold tight and be happy that a player who has shown some success and shown that he wants to be here returns for just a year at a fair price. We'll see what the remainder of the season and the off-season brings before we revisit this.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Keep Rolling, Win Fourth Straight

The Islanders came into Ottawa on Tuesday night winless in their previous four meetings there. This trip however has just had a whole different feel about it.


As a matter of fact, there is something very different about this team. When I walked into that locker room after the 9-3 win over Pittsburgh, the aura hit you immediately. I was curious how long that would last.

So far, it has made for some impressive hockey. After beating the red hot Buffalo Sabres in a pond hockey game, the Isles and Sens played a much more contained game, with some good goal tending and a heck of a lot better defensive support.

As has been the story for the better part of two weeks now, the little engine that could known as the Islanders came back from one goal deficits twice, and ultimately won the game in the shoot out 4-3.

Nathan Lawson made his return to the line-up since getting injured on January 21st. He was solid in what would be his first NHL win. There were times where you could tell he was still trying to get the kinks out, but when I think back to the little we've seen of him this season, I can say that I felt the rebounds were not as bad as they had been. It still needs some work, but as far as he goes tonight, he was solid.

It helped Lawson that the Islanders had an overall solid defense in front of him. There were a couple of breakdowns, like for example on Ottawa's third goal with Milan Jurcina laying a big hit and all of the Isles players standing to Lawson's right. Fortunately, it didn't happen as much as it had in games past when Lawson has played.

The shoot out was a lot better this time around for Lawson. He was predictably schooled by Alex Kovalev, who made such a sick move. The little half turn had me fooled all the way as well. It helped that Lawson had some support there too, from Rob Schremp going into his bag of tricks and Frans Nielsen scoring...on a forehand?! Brian Elliot expected the switch to the backhand the whole time, just as I think about everyone in the hockey world did tonight. Instead they got a quick wrist shot and a very confused Elliot, Jiggs McDonald and Butch Goring.

Travis Hamonic had a very solid game, blocking a number of shots and throwing his body around. On the power-play, he is looking more and more relaxed. We really needed him to be tonight, since Andrew MacDonald hurt his nose in an awkward collision with Chris Kelly. Kelly was traded after the game to the Bruins for a 2nd round pick, so we'll see him again on Thursday.

Michael Grabner had another two point night, but this time only scored one goal. But it was still a thing of beauty after failing to convert on a breakaway move trying something new as Grabner missed the shot but gathered the loose puck behind the net and wrapped around to score one for the 2nd time in as many games like that. Solid effort there and having that speed is what really gives him the ability to score on that when maybe 90% of the league wouldn't be able to.

Congrats to Josh Bailey for scoring the Isles 3rd goal, his 7th of the season and first in the last 21 games. Must be nice to get that monkey off his back after having some good chances over the last two weeks.

The Sens had some tough luck in this game, losing both Chris Campoli and Sergei Gonchar to injuries early on. I have to tip my hat to them for playing really well despite only having four defensemen for more than half the game. It's not easy to manage against that, but they seemed to do well and not over work anyone.

The Isles now come back home on a roll, with some more tough opponents coming in the form of the Bruins on Thursday and the Kings on Saturday. The Bruins are arguably the best team the Islanders will have faced in the past couple of weeks, and are now starting to make some moves to their team. Will they have another new player aside from Kelly, like Tomas Kaberle? The rumors are out there, and they do indeed need a defenseman.

Kaberle or not, there is a really big test coming in. It seems like there is going to be a decent crowd on hand too, given the Isles recent stretch of hot play and show of toughness.

-CH
 
nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Lose Poulin for Season, Acquire Montoya

"It's bad luck for Ricky but I think it's a great opportunity for me and I'm just looking forward to playing some games." -Kevin Poulin on February 4th

I wasn't all that hopeful that the results of Kevin Poulin's MRI would come back with good news. When the injury happened, it looked pretty bad immediately. As it turns out, it's just as bad as many expected.


For the 2nd time, Kevin Poulin has dislocated his left knee cap. Just like the other time in juniors, this one too will require surgery. Poulin will be out for the remainder of the season.

Despite the Isles wanting to send the goalie down to be the everyday starter at the AHL level, Poulin played better and better each night and was working on cutting down on some of his extra movements, which seemed to be what one of his weaknesses were.

As you can see from the quote above, Poulin knew this was his chance to show what he can do as a 20 year old against NHLers. He was always a guy who had a lot of promise, even though he fell to the 5th round in 2008, ironically mainly due to injury and inconsistency.

That chance ended when Poulin's skate got caught in a rut on the infamous Coliseum ice, causing the goalie to immediately crumble to the ice. It was a site that made many fans all around the world bury their head in their hands.

For a while, it appeared as though it suddenly became Mikko Koskinen's turn to show his stuff. After being named the starter to replace Poulin against the Maple Leafs, he promptly gave up two goals on the first two NHL shots he saw. Koskinen would settle down a bit, and didn't receive a heck of a lot of support from his teammates, who appeared to look rather deflated at times due to Poulin going down.

During the game, Garth Snow began to make some calls around the league, looking for a team that had a 3rd string goalie that he could get on the cheap.

Wednesday saw a lot of action as far as transactions in the NHL. After the Leafs dealt away defenseman Francois Beauchemin, goalie Jonas Gustavsson was pulled from his start in the AHL. For a few hours, people wondered what was going on there and tried to connect the dots, wondering if this was the 3rd string veteran that Snow was targeting. Since James Reimer has come up and looked really good for the Leafs, both J.S. Giguere and Gustavsson have lost starts.

But word came down that Gustavsson actually was having problems with his heart rate again and as a result, was removed from the game. So the search for a new goalie went on.

On our Twitter account, I posted that I felt Snow was going to add a goalie of the Martin Gerber or Curtis Sanford variety. Both of these guys actually fit the bill for what he was looking for.

Needless to say, many were a bit surprised when the news hit the wire about the Isles trading a 6th rounder this summer to the Phoenix Coyotes in return for Al Montoya.

Montoya, better known by Isles fans as the last goalie to get into a fight with Rick DiPietro prior to Brent Johnson, was the 6th overall pick by the New York Rangers in the 2004 draft. Thing's haven't worked out for Montoya though, now 25. To date he has played all of five games in the NHL, all with the Coyotes.

Montoya was struggling this season in San Antonio of the AHL, but overall has compiled a 96-72-7 record since joining the league in 05-06. His overall numbers haven't been horrible, but this season is obviously one of his worst ones yet.

Since Montoya still is fairly young, I'm assuming Snow saw the potential for something here. I don't think there is anything else potential wise there, but stranger things have happened. For Montoya, he gets a chance to finally be an NHL goalie for 28 games. If he plays well he gets noticed, if not by the Isles then by some other team. If not, then he'll still be talented enough to be an AHL guy, maybe even for the Isles.

It is assumed that with Nathan Lawson really close to returning, Koskinen and Joel Martin will head back down to Bridgeport while Montoya and Lawson handle the nets up with the Isles for the balance of the season.

Montoya will go to Bridgeport, but join the Isles when they return home from Montreal. He may even start against the Penguins on Friday.

Let's just hope that he doesn't get hurt now.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

DiPietro Out 4-6 Weeks

I decided to use my Friday off today to take the time and head over to the Coliseum to watch practice. I made the decision at pretty much the last minute, and in the end it turned into quite a busy day.

No sooner did I get there and take a seat and start scribbling some items in my notebook, the Isles staff informed me that I had to go to the locker room. Now I don't get the internet on my phone at this time, and left my house at about 11:45. So I truly had no idea what was up.


DiPietro has suffered another setback. Photo by C. Hessel

Before entering I asked what happened and was told Rick DiPietro was going to speak. My immediate thought was "uh oh."

I turn from the hallway to the entrance of the locker room. As soon as I enter, DiPietro removes his aviator sunglasses to address those of us there.

Upon seeing the condition of his right eye I immediately frowned, as would a parent walking into a room to see their child had done something bad. I kept thinking about the strong feelings I had after the fight where I essentially said it was foolish for DiPietro to be engaging in stuff like this no matter who did the initiating.

Just from looking at the swelling on his face I knew it was going to be a while. Arthur Staple of Newsday began to ask about the knee injury, and I was confused at first. I soon realized though what was going on here, that this was more than just some broken bones in his cheek.

My initial thought after hearing him speak and seeing the damage was that he was done for the year. The Isles are saying he's only out 4-6 weeks. I'm not one to tell people I'm right and things like that, but I'm sticking by my prediction. I don't expect to see him for the remainder of the season.

DiPietro however, remained optimistic that he would be able to return sooner rather than later. "I hope so, but I can't tell you how long it's going to take my bones to heal."

Meanwhile, DiPietro is also suffering from swelling in his knee, the same problem he has always been battling. "It's the same stuff we've been dealing with. I'm sure the rest will help."

When asked if he had any regrets for getting into the fight with Brent Johnson, DiPietro gave an emphatic "no."

"I'm not. I'm sick of losing, our team's sick of losing. You never expect to go into a fight and get smashed in the face that hard but it happens, he landed a good punch and we move on."

While DiPietro maintains that he has to move on, the Islanders now have to try and figure out their goaltending situation moving forward.

After practice, Jack Capuano said that nothing had been decided on goaltending from here on out yet.

"I haven't even talked to Garth yet. Obviously, we do have some prospects and I'm sure Garth will make that decision here shortly."

This afternoon, the team announced they signed goalie Joel Martin, currently backing up Mikko Koskinen in Bridgeport, to a two-way contract and kept him in Connecticut on loan to the Sound Tigers. Right now it appears that Koskinen is the favorite to come up with Nathan Lawson still ailing. Koskinen has had a number of issues in Bridgeport this season though, and still appears to be a ways away from living up to the billing as a 31st overall pick.

As far as NHL options, there are a couple that are out there. The most talked about one is currently Ray Emery. Emery has been battling serious health issues of his own in the past few years, but appears poised to make a return to the NHL. He and his agent are expected to sign a deal somewhere shortly, where he could start in the AHL for conditioning and work his way back.

A report from Friday says that the Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers were pursuing Emery, as well as a third team. The feeling on that 3rd team is that they are "at a point where they're prepared to make an offer" to sign the goalie. The Islanders are certainly at a point where they can make an offer.

The Islanders passed on Mike Smith on waivers, but if he goes on re-entry then he could be another option. The Toronto Maple leafs have been shopping J.S. Giguere with the emergence of James Reimer.

Of course, if Evgeni Nabokov ever comes to his senses he would be welcomed with open arms now. One has to wonder if he is looking at this situation and changing his mind if he was serious about "visibility for next season." My guess is that he isn't since it was proven otherwise.

Right now, the number one is going to be Kevin Poulin who is obviously up for the challenge. The plan was to try and get Poulin back to Bridgeport at some time to become the number one starter there again, but now it appears like he won't be headed down there until the Isles season has been completed.

"It's bad luck for Ricky but I think it's a great opportunity for me and I'm just looking forward to playing some games."

Poulin continued, saying "The team has helped me a lot. My defense has blocked a lot of shots the last few games."

Capuano was quick when asked about his confidence in the 20 year old going forward. "Poulin's been playing great. Kevin wants to be that guy, he puts the pressure on himself to be that guy and every game he wants to know who's starting."

Poulin has a chance to shine now. Photo by C. Hessel

"I'm not worried about Kevin."

Many Isles fans aren't either, given his 3-2-1 record in nice games, with a .929 SV% and 2.37 GAA.

In all honesty, it would be nice to see the Isles pick up one of the aforementioned goaltenders but I have my doubts. It certainly goes against their thinking of just two weeks ago when they claimed Nabokov, but I think they are fine with just rolling with Poulin for a majority of the games from here on out and mixing and matching Koskinen and Lawson for the other games. We'll have to see what happens here.

Some other notes from practice:

-Mark Eaton showed up for the first time in what seems like a while. Upon entering the locker room, the players eyes lit up and they all flocked around him to see how he was doing. He was telling players that he was pain free, but still couldn't out pressure on his surgically repaired knee EDIT: hip.

-Zenon Konopka was very excited about a potential Twitter account. Apparently, as team communications coordinator Jesse Eisenberg pointed out, someone created a fake twitter account for the often outspoken center. He really wants his own account now, and every time he talked about it the media relations folks kept looking at each other with understandable petrified looks. We'll see if he gets his wish or not.

-Trevor Gillies practiced on the 4th line today with Konopka and Matt Martin. Rob Schremp wore an orange jersey with Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau and Jeremy Colliton. I'm assuming that there's a strong chance that Schremp is an odd man out next game with Gillies getting back in. It makes some sense after what happened last game. The Senators have guys like Matt Carkner and Chris Neil.

-I spoke to Ty Wishart after practice for a small getting to know you type blog entry. He's a good guy with a good personality and a good sense of humor, as he poked fun of himself and how many times he's been traded already. So look for that in the next day or so.

NYI FYI on Saturday: Due to the Super Bowl on Sunday and the fact that everyone has plans, we decided to do the show on Saturday this week at 1 PM. Be sure to tune in by going to our UStream page to listen to us live. There you can also participate in the chat room and submit your questions or thoughts for us to read on air.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Topple Sabres as Lawson Gets Injured; More Nabokov

The Isles 5-2 win over the Sabres had a little bit of everything in it, including another strong relief appearance from a back-up goalie.

Nathan Lawson got injured near the end of the first period which was a shame because he was looking pretty strong. He seemed to hurt his knee on one play, but played the remainder of the period despite looking very uncomfortable. He wasn't tested to hard for those last few minutes, and wouldn't return to the ice after the intermission. But more on this later.

Kevin Poulin came in and was very good in relief. He looked shaky at the beginning but settled in and made some big saves, stopping 26 of 28 shots.

In general, the Isles played well but in the 3rd when the Sabres kept pressing Poulin was able to stand tall and make some key saves. He only gave up two goals to Nathan Gerbe, both five seconds apart from one another.

Michael Grabner had another solid game, scoring two goals. Prior to getting the empty-netter for his second, he tried to get goals for other teammates on the ice as he passed to Kyle Okposo and then later on the shift, Travis Hamonic. Both missed their opportunities, so when Grabner pressed and stole the puck for a 3rd time on the shift, he just scored it himself. Those were classy moves by him though. I'm liking more and more about him as a player and a person each day.

Dylan Reese has been looking worse as time goes on here. Last year, he was solid. This year he's not getting many minutes, and each game lately seems to be falling or horribly out of position or doing something else that makes me notice him in a negative way. Losing Milan Jurcina for another 2-4 weeks hurts big time.

The Islanders return home for the 2nd part of this home and home on Sunday, as they play the Sabres for the 3rd time this week. Rick DiPietro is expected to practice Saturday while we hopefully get more of an evaluation on Nathan Lawson.

NABOKOV UPDATE: We'll switch gears again for now, leaving the goalie with zero NHL wins to discuss one with 293 - Evgeni Nabokov. At numerous points during the telecast, Howie Rose and Butch Goring talked about the Isles potentially putting in a claim for the goalie. Lawson's injury only intensified that.

Of course, we don't know the extent of the injury. It was his knee, and we can't get any confirmation on if it was the same one that was giving him problems throughout training camp and at the beginning of the season. If Lawson is out for any extended period of time, then there is a good chance this happens. But will the Isles know in time?

Claiming Nabokov regardless really can't be a bad move no matter how you slice it. The Isles get to add a name - some excitement, if you will - to a season that is rapidly approaching it's expiration date. It'll give the fans something to watch, and still send out that message that you are doing all you can to win until you are mathematically eliminated.

DiPietro is still going through maintenance days and scheduled off days, while Lawson has looked pretty underwhelming. Meanwhile, as Chris Botta pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the plan for Poulin all along has been for him to go down to Bridgeport no matter how good he has been. Is that still the plan now? It should be. As good as he has looked he's not quite there yet. We're better off with him being a starter every night in the AHL.

Nabokov, meanwhile, gets to play in the NHL and prove that he still has the goods to be a starter in the league. It was originally thought that he would refuse to report to certain teams, but his agent Don Meehan has since come out and refuted that, saying Nabokov "wants visibility for next season." It would not make any sense for a 35-year-old to sit out a season just because a lower seeded team claimed him on waivers.

Then of course you have the price, which is essentially peanuts. It's right up the Isles alley and something that some people out there think will happen. It's very hard to find anyone around the NHL who actually thinks Nabokov will end up in Detroit after noon on Saturday, including members of the Red Wings organization.

For those who have been confused by the waiver process in this unique case, Bob McKenzie of TSN has an excellent post detailing all of the various scenarios that can happen. It's a good read that provides a ton of clarifications on things that can and can't be done regarding trades, re-waiving and what it would take to end up with Detroit. Really odd stuff. I can say that after reading it, I agree with Blues President John Davidson 100% - this process needs to be looked at heavily during the upcoming CBA negotiations (the Blues fell victim to this rule twice this month when they tried to sign Marek Svatos and Kyle Wellwood out of the KHL but lost them on waivers to Nashville and San Jose, respectively).

As of now, I stick by my prediction that the Isles will ultimately pass on Nabokov. If it were me though, I would claim him regardless of Lawson's injury for some of the reason's I posted above. I am hoping that the Isles do claim him, more so to do right by Poulin.

We'll see noon Saturday. Be sure to check back for thoughts and analysis when and if something happens (or doesn't).

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Sens 6, Isles 4

It's very difficult for someone to say a team played pretty poorly when they scored four goals, but on a night where the Islanders would give up six to the Ottawa Senators you definitely can - well, for the first two periods anyway.

The Islanders came out very flat, as evidenced by Daniel Alfredsson's goal 32 seconds into the game. That would be the first of a few that the defensive pairing of Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic would let get by them.

It has been a bit of a concern lately to see the entire Isles defensive unit give easy chances to opposing players, letting them virtually waltz into scoring areas. It doesn't help that the team's leading shot blocker in Mark Eaton is out for the year, but with Radek Martinek, Milan Jurcina and MacDonald still around it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The Islanders essentially didn't show up in the 2nd period, allowing the Senators to score four goals while getting out-shot 17-7. The Islanders would get a goal from Blake Comeau just prior to the Sens going on their scoring run, but the excitement would only last for 20 seconds.

The third period the Islanders seemed to finally find their game - and their game plan. By throwing whatever shots they could at the net, they discovered how vulnerable the shaky Robin Lehner, making his first NHL start, was. The 19-year-old looked overwhelmed at times, and it is disappointing that it took the Isles that long to figure that out. Lehner is a really great prospect though, and much like Kevin Poulin could use some more seasoning in the AHL. It comes as no surprise that the game was that high scoring.

The power-play was an Achilles heel for the Islanders, however. Despite getting many chances on the man advantage, the Islanders could not get any momentum going. They were entering the zone really slowly, dumping along the boards and causally skating to the puck. It allowed the Senator penalty killers to get there quicker and easily clear the puck.

Jack Capuano made what is becoming his usual quick hook of Poulin in the 1st after the second Ottawa goal in favor of Nathan Lawson. Lawson was in the net for the Sens next four goals, and after the 2nd period would be replaced again by Poulin. This move is odd, but there is a recent precedent - former Isles goalie Dwayne Roloson was pulled in his 2nd game with the Lightning against Pittsburgh for Dan Ellis and then later re-entered the game as the Bolts went on to lose 7-1. With a 20-year-old in Poulin, perhaps Capuano was just looking to settle him down a bit and wanted to give him another chance to boost his confidence a bit before his possible trip back down to the AHL. Rick DiPietro is a possibility to start the next game against the Sabres.

All in all, it was a tale of two games for the Isles, with their better effort only coming in the final 20 minutes. That isn't enough to win anything, no matter what team you are. While this Isles team is depleted and young, efforts like this should not be happening this frequently. If you can put out good efforts against teams like Pittsburgh, Detroit and Vancouver, with similar line-ups to the ones iced tonight, why can't you do the same against a team that has been essentially a mirror image of yourselves this season? It really shows how long this team has to go in their progression.

We've hit the point now where games are coming at us fast and furious. As I mentioned, the next game is Satruday night, followed by a Monday matinee against the Devils. The Isles need to find a way to put out some more consistent efforts, especially against an opponent they can beat and one that they should. One thing this team still has to work on is that power-play though. The movement is too slow, and the fact that they are dumping and chasing in a very nonchalant manner isn't going to do any good.

We'll see what they work on in practice on Friday.

One last note - Trevor Gillies scored his first NHL goal in the 1st period. Congrats to the 31-year-old fighter who has travelled to many cities playing professional hockey. At least he can now say he has one, no matter how ugly it was.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Road Trip Ends in Dissapointment

Those of us who were optimistic after the Isles overtime win on Saturday night, such as Sean and I, were very disappointed in the Isles performance on Sunday night in Chicago.

The Islanders were completely dominated by the Blackhawks from the word "go" as they shut-out the Isles 5-0.

The game cannot solely be pinned on any one player. Nathan Lawson was left out to dry by both the forwards and the defense. In all honesty, the effort was putrid and very unacceptable. These kinds of problems simply cannot happen if you are trying to show everyone you are turning the corner. Don't get me wrong - every team is entitled to the occasional bad game, but not as frequently as it has happened here.

The Islanders really didn't get any great chances on Corey Crawford aside from Michael Grabner's breakaway and Josh Bailey's chance all alone in front of a briefly wide open net. The puck rolled right off of Grabner's stick when he cut in on Crawford, while Crawford made a huge and unbelievable pad save on Bailey. Both events were microcosms of the game, honestly.

This was your classic case of talent shining through. Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were all factors in this one for the Blackhawks, who are now healthy and finally have all three stars back together again. Behind Crawford's hot goaltending, they are starting to click a bit as they battle in the tight Western conference.

All in all, however, the Islanders road trip was overall successful. They finished 3-2-0, which is tough to do on these trips out West. In general the Islanders played well, and played well enough overall to win in Edmonton but couldn't get another puck past Devan Dubnyk.

The Islanders don't have a heck of a lot of time to get their act together as they return home to face yet another excellent team on Tuesday night in the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks have been on a tear, although their recent streak was ended by the Detroit Red Wings. This is still a very good team though that will be tough to beat. The Isles have fared well against them though the last few seasons, so perhaps it could be more of the same as far as that goes.

NEW SHOW POSTED: As always, we had our show Sunday afternoon and have posted it at both the podcast and the UStream sites for your listening or viewing pleasure. We hope you guys enjoy!

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Oilers End Isles Three Game Win Streak; Injury News

I originally thought that it was good news that the Islanders had two days off after facing so many shots on Monday night in Calgary. But perhaps it was one day too many.

The Isles came out very slow in this game, and within the first four minutes found themselves in a two goal hole that they would not recover from.

After giving up the goals, Nathan Lawson was pulled in favor of Kevin Poulin, who made his NHL debut. Similar to the way Lawson did it in Calgary, the 20 year old Poulin came in and looked very poised. He wasn't tested as much as Lawson was in Calgary, but Poulin did come up with some solid, nice saves - some that most goalies should get, but rookies can have problems with. So that's a good sign.

Lawson wasn't particularly awful in his brief couple of minutes, either. The Oilers' first goal came off of an odd play as Andrew Cogliano's shot careened off the end boards and in front of the net, where Gilbert Brule was sitting virtually all by himself. Both Lawson and defenseman Andrew MacDonald realized where the puck was a tad too late.

The second goal was a good move to the net by Dustin Penner. Milan Jurcina got caught off guard a bit and turned to catch up with Penner but he was already out of reach. It made for a rather easy play as he cut in towards Lawson. Penner has the ability to be an excellent power forward and when he gets his acceleration up to speed, it's tough to stop. Jurcina has to be a little more alert than that there, and Lawson has to make some kind of a confident attempt there, like a poke check. He seemed to be just waiting for Penner to get closer to him but before he had time to think, Penner put the puck by him.

After that, the Islanders finally started to play well. This happened from the five minute mark of the period and on. I was hoping to see the Islanders keep the momentum going into the second, and they did.

The Islanders had some excellent chances on Devan Dubnyk, but he made some good stops and stood tall. The Islanders failed to convert on any of the seven power-play chances that they were given after going a combined 4-for-4 in the last two games. The failed chances included a big 5-on-3 opportunity for 1:33 with less than five minutes remaining in the game. That is something that you absolutely have to cash in on if you plan to win a lot of games in this league. The failure to tie the game there gave Edmonton the 2-1 victory.

Michael Grabner had a breakaway early in the game that he failed to convert on, and that's something that he usually is pretty good at. He knows he has to put that in. If he does there, then the whole complexion is changed as the Isles would have had the quick lead on a fragile Oilers team. Instead, the save was made and the Oilers capitalized quickly after that as they went on to end their seven game losing streak.

The loss wasn't the only bad news the Isles got on Thursday, however. Prior to the game, the Islanders said that Frans Nielsen is day-to-day with a groin tweak and that Mark Eaton had flown back to Long Island where he is diagnosed with a labrum issue in his hip. It's been recommended that he get surgery, but he will seek a second opinion. He is out indefinitely for now, but obviously if he gets the surgery he will be out the year. That's the same thing that Mike Mottau had, and he's out for the year after surgery to repair a hip labrum. Nielsen was more of a game time decision than anything, so despite them taking it day by day, I figure he'll be back Saturday. Rick DiPietro practiced but didn't dress. He's also day-to-day.

If DiPietro can't go against the Avs, then Poulin certainly made his case to get the start. We'll have to see what the decision is there within the next day, and who practices on Friday.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

DiPietro Hurt as Isles Defeat Flames

11:15: The Isles have called up Kevin Poulin from Bridgeport in case DiPietro can't go by Thursday. The injury doesn't seem to be serious.

8 AM: The Islanders 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday night was overshadowed by the fact that Rick DiPietro left the game early after making a save and then having a hard time getting up.

The injury was obviously a lower body one, with many people speculating about the knees and hips again. Word came out in the 3rd period that DiPietro was suffering from a strained adductor - essentially, his groin.

I remain hopeful that this was just a precautionary measure taken in a game that the Islanders were truly dominating at the time.

Of course, this gives more credence to the thought that the Islanders traded Dwayne Roloson away too soon. If anything serious is wrong with DiPietro, then as of now the Islanders would have Nate Lawson as their starter and either Mikko Koskinen or Kevin Poulin as his back-up, both with no NHL experience at this time. The Flyers have Michael Leighton on waivers and many fans want the Isles to scoop him up. Sean posted on our Twitter last night that he thought they should. I, on the other hand, don't think it will happen. We don't know how serious the injury is, and probably won't before the time to claim him comes to a close. Also, while Leighton is inexpensive, it remains to be seen how inexpensive a player has to be in order for the Isles to add them.

Meanwhile, the Islanders had an overall good effort against a Flames team that has been just as hot as they have been. They came out like gang busters in the first and jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead thanks to John Tavares and Matt Moulson. Moulson's goal was a thing of beauty, set up nicely by Tavares and P.A. Parenteau.

Tavares played with the most confidence that I have seen in quite some time. All of a sudden, he seemed to have a spring in his step and an extra gear that was kicking in. His speed still isn't the greatest, but it was encouraging to see that perhaps we have something to work on that's better than we thought. Who knows - perhaps the articles stating Tavares wanting to leave, which he quickly denied, added some punch here.

Moulson and Parenteau had awesome games too. I've been critical of Parenteau but this game was the most complete game I saw from him as an NHL player.

Lawson should be applauded for his effort in this one as well. It is very difficult to come in and relieve for any goalie, let alone a 27 year old rookie with one game of NHL experience to his name. But he went in and was tested early and often, only giving up one goal and making several key stops. Rebound control is certainly something that will need to be worked on, but luckily it didn't kill Lawson against the Flames.

I am really liking the Grabner-Nielsen-Bailey line more and more each game. They control the puck very well, and had some nice shifts where they controlled the puck for virtually the entire time on the ice. It's really nice to see all three playing well and with some good chemistry. Jack Capuano seems to have found a good thing there.

The Isles have now won seven of their last nine and have a couple of off days to figure out DP's status. They play Thursday in Edmonton against the Oilers. Naturally we'll have updates for you here.

For those of you who are unaware, we did record and post our latest show on Sunday. We have the podcast available at the MyPodcast site. We went live for the show through UStream, and also have the first ever recorded show available here. Hopefully you all like the format as much as we enjoyed making it. We're still trying to learn all the bells and whistles, but it was really fun and we look forward to using it as we continue to make improvements to the show.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Off Day? Hah!

9:52 - The Isles proved me wrong as they have called up Josh Bailey.

I will say that I am not overly impressed with this, and I truly did get the impression that he would be down for a while.

Fans of the BST were still concerned recently that Bailey would go stretches where he looked invisible because of some fore-checking and defensive deficiencies, but would suddenly appear as he put up some of those points. Hopefully it is fixed, because this is it now. After his next NHL game he has to go through waivers to be sent down again.

8:08 AM - No one told me that the off days were going to have this much going on. I suppose when you're record isn't great, that's to be expected.

Tuesday was a rather interesting one to say the least if you're an Islanders fan. Of course, we'll hit some of the juicy stuff later. First we'll have to start off with some unfortunate news.

The Islanders once again practiced with two goaltenders - Dwayne Roloson and Nathan Lawson. Rick DiPietro did not practice. Jack Capuano stated that it was still just your typical maintenance stuff.

Of course, that "maintenance" word might have even deeper meaning now that DiPietro was officially placed on IR with the swelling in his right knee. For those of you who listened to our last podcast, when Sean and I gave our take on the Roloson situation I downplayed DiPietro's injury. Meanwhile, Sean maintained that he'd "believe it when he sees it" when it comes to any injury of his being minor.

As of right now, I'll only slightly nod my head in his direction but not completely tip the cap yet. Matt Martin was suspended for two games as punishment for his elbow to the head of Vernon Fiddler. The Islanders were already at the max roster limit, which we pointed out during the show on Sunday. They have to call up another forward to take the spot of Martin - unless of course you want to see Bruno Gervais play wing again. Even though we're under the holiday roster freeze, there can be call-ups for emergency. This would qualify.

I'm seeing some people say they want Josh Bailey to be called up. If the Islanders were smart in this situation, and I think they will be, Bailey will not and should not be up. I love what he is doing. The points he is putting up with the Sound Tigers is phenomenal. However, the total package is still not 100% there yet - fore-checking, defensive play, etc. Hasn't the kid been rushed enough in his very short NHL career thus far? Not only that, but he was constantly shifted from one position to another, and seemingly was not given ample time to adjust to that let alone to the NHL game. Josh is going to be down in Bridgeport for the next little while it sounds like. At least that's what my take was after listening to Garth Snow on "The GM Show" a couple of weeks back.

All in all, I have a wait and see approach on the extent on DiPietro's injury. Perhaps it's truly wishful thinking, but I still firmly believe that the Islanders called up Lawson to get a look at what he can do when they inevitably ship off Roloson. DiPietro probably is banged up, but my feeling is a) the Islanders are using it to see what others can do for more than just one game and b) to create a roster spot.

Meanwhile, Mike Mottau was also placed on IR and will be out the rest of the year with a torn labrum in his hip. Mottau had been out since taking a puck off of his eye in Atlanta. Some may be wondering "how the heck does that happen?" Apparently the injury is something he had suffered prior to the year, and most likely re-aggravated it while rehabbing recently. He had started skating with the team.

The news of Mottau's injury is a bit of a blow, but it obviously gives some more thought to the idea that Travis Hamonic will stay up for most of the year. The shame in this is that the Islanders were slowly having better defensive efforts coming on the heels of getting Andrew MacDonald and Milan Jurcina back. I was looking forward to Mottau coming back. Now, we can only hope that the surgery takes care of the issue and it doesn't linger next season. We know all too well how persistent those hip injuries can be.

The biggest story of the day, however, was the rumor of a potential buyer for the team. On Monday night, ESPN's Pierre LeBrun made a mention in his chat that former Isles goalie and current Hockey Night in Canada analyst Glenn Healy told him that Nelson Peltz has expressed interest in purchasing the Islanders. Of course, it didn't take the news too long to spread, and by Tuesday morning the story gained more steam.

Furthermore, Chris Botta in his Fanhouse piece on AOL was able to confirm from multiple sources that Peltz has been kicking the tires for the past year or so, and it appears he will continue to do so.

Before anyone gets too ahead of themselves, let me bring out a key point here. This does NOT mean that Charles Wang has the team up for sale. It could be and we just don't know it, seeing as how tight lipped things can get with the organization, but do not read into it any more than that. I saw some folks on Twitter getting all excited, with some talking as if it were a done deal.

I'm sure Peltz isn't the only one who kicked tires, but he may be the only one who has been persistent enough in making it known that he wants the team.

The connections with Peltz, however certainly are very eerie.

First off, he is currently on the Board of Directors at Wendy's/Arby's Group. The Islanders have a relationship with Wendy's as many fans know by now. Peltz is also the former owner of Snapple Inc., which had it's headquarters on Long Island in Valley Stream for a number of years before relocating to Plano, Texas.

Peltz, who hails from Brooklyn, lives in Bedford, NY. When not there, he is most likely at his other homes in Paris or Palm Beach, Florida.

According to the recent list of wealthy folks from Forbes, Peltz is now worth $1.1 billion which ranks 880th.

Of course, as Botta's source says in the article, Peltz will only buy the Islanders on his terms, which makes sense. Any potential buyer who has interest in keeping the team right where it is doesn't want to deal with all of the politicking that has gone on. Keep in mind though, Peltz has been more than generous over the years to George W.Bush's and the campaigns of Republicans in general. It's possible the TOH Republicans would be willing to do him a favor they weren't willing to do for Wang if they can settle their own debt problems.

Some are wondering if he would move them to his hometown over in Brooklyn if he bought them. I'm not too sure he would do that. I think the preference of the league is to get something worked out in Uniondale. In fact, those who listened to deputy commish Bill Daily on the commissioner's show on XM last Thursday heard him say that they were working with the town to find a solution, and he was pretty adamant about it. Is part of that solution the sale of the team to someone who is willing to accept the proposal the town presented?

Obviously, the selling of teams takes an extremely long time and if anything comes of this, it won't be for a bit. But, the idea of tire kicking for the past year is very vague and who knows what's gone on. I believe the source Botta uses when he says it's nothing for people to get all excited about right now. Time will tell, and it's certainly something we'll be keeping our eyes on.

De Haan Gets an 'A' - Isles prospect Calvin de Haan was named an alternate captain for Canada's World Junior team. He is the captain of his OHL team, the Oshawa Generals. The Islanders are doing Calvin right when it comes to his development, and all of these feathers in his cap are going to help him greatly in the same way they would have helped Bailey out if they didn't rush him. With both de Haan and Cizikas on the roster, and Nino Niederreiter on Switzerland's team, we'll be sure to focus on the WJC a little bit. Congrats to all these prospects.

Up Next - The Islanders take on the Lightning at the coliseum, have gone 1-1 against them so far this season. The usual Islander killers of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Ryan Malone will all be in the line-up.

We don't know for sure who will be in net for the Isles yet. Something tells me it will be Roloson though. We shall see. We will also see who the team ends up calling up to replace the suspended Martin. Be sure to check back for updates.

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com

Isles Lose to Coyotes as Roloson Rumors Swirl

Sunday, 12/19/2010 11:00 PM - As we always do on Sundays, we recorded and posted our latest podcast here. We discussed a wide variety of topics, with the main focus of course being the Dwayne Roloson situation. We also talk about who we liked, who we didn't like and who we'd like to see more of.

Enjoy.

11:27 PM - The Islanders fell to the Coyotes 4-3 after the shootout in which the Coyotes scored on all three attempts. Goalie Nathan Lawson made his NHL debut and looked OK for the most part and made 32 saves on 35 shots.

The one thing that stood out to me regarding Lawson was his rebound control. It isn't great, and you would hope that's something that he can work on. However, he isn't your normal rookie as he is 27 years old. That may be something he'll never improve on, but who knows.

The Islanders played a pretty solid game overall, the best performances coming from Jesse Joensuu and Andrew MacDonald. Joensuu got the Isles on the board with his goal off of a really quick snap shot after a beautiful cross-ice pass from John Tavares. Joensuu would later create the goal that Michael Grabner scored to give the Isles a 2-1 lead. His play seems to have been improving as of late, and I still can't completely understand why he isn't getting more minutes (he only played 12:31 tonight).

MacDonald blocked another three shots and was a very steady presence out there. He was often tabbed to shadow the Coyotes' best players and seemed up to the task more often than not. He never really fumbles the puck under pressure, and keeps things very calm from the back end when he's out there. He is proving day in and day out why for the better part of a year now he has been on the top pairing.

Travis Hamonic told us after the game that the team had "nothing to hang their head about." He's right about that - the effort was absolutely there. There were a lot of opportunities in this game for either team to really take the game and run with it, and neither did. The Islanders out-shot the Coyotes 44-35, and Jason LaBarbera made some really incredible saves.

Hamonic alluded to getting three out of their last four points as something they have to look at as a good thing and go from there. It's the small things in life, I suppose. But he does have a good point.

When asked about the power-play, which went only 1-for-8 tonight, Jack Capuano was very honest, saying "that's something we're going to have to address, and if it continues then we'll have to put a new unit of five on the ice."


He concluded his thought by saying he felt that was "the biggest issue tonight."

The power-play was certainly a cause for concern once again considering how many chances the Coyotes really gave them. The Islanders had two brief 5-on-3 chances that they killed by getting penalties of their own. Meanwhile, when they did have the man advantage the Isles movement was very slow and sluggish. I agree that at some point really soon, there needs to be a change on the power-play. The first two guys that should be on there when that change is made is Joensuu and Grabner. Enough is enough - they need minutes they can really run with, and the power-play is an area I think they can star in.

Meanwhile, for many the storyline of the game to follow was the start of Nate Lawson. Not so much because it was his NHL debut, but more so because he got the start over Dwayne Roloson.

When it was first reported that Lawson was getting the start, many people figured that something was wrong. Of course, that wasn't really the case. The Islanders announced that Rick DiPietro had some swelling in his knee that was very minor. If it was anything more, he wouldn't have practiced today. He also wouldn't have stuck around the team or answered questions for the media. Since Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit have been injured, there haven't been many opportunities to access them. DiPietro meanwhile was not sent home without talking to the media.

Generally, when you have "two number one goalies" as Garth Snow has reminded us every chance he could, then quite frankly you are starting the guy who isn't playing that night. That would have been Roloson, with Lawson backing him up.

Even stranger are the comments from Capuano in the post game press conference. He mentioned a variety of items of note:

- The decision to start Lawson was because they haven't won a lot of games here and something had to change. As far as I'm concerned, Roloson has been more than capable this season. More often than not, he gets no goal support. So I don't get that.

- They need to find ways to win games, so he doesn't know who would start the next game. "Tonight it was Nate, tomorrow it could be someone else."

- When he came to practice this morning, he explained to both DiPietro and Roloson that Lawson was coming and starting tonight. No mention of the injury as a factor.

What I took from all of that is that there is more here than meets the eye. Roloson was healthy. During warm-ups, I noticed he didn't take as many shots that a back-up for the game normally would.

I truly think we are seeing the end of Roli on Long Island. For those of you who remember Guerin-gate from a few years back, I think the Isles are attempting to handle this in a slightly different way, but it seems to be creating problems. Many prominent journalists are raising an eye brow wondering why the veteran who has done nothing but bust his hump for the team gets to ride the pine for a 27 year old rookie.

Quite simply, I think the Islanders are slowly excepting their fate and are staring to look at their other goalies as a pre-cursor to a Roloson move. DiPietro is supposed to get one of the two games in the upcoming weekend. Who gets the other is now up for debate. Heck, who starts Wednesday against the Lightning is up for debate too, apparently.

We'll keep an eye on this story throughout the night, but wouldn't expect anything huge to come out of it just yet. The NHL's holiday trade freeze comes into effect at midnight. So we still have just under an hour of fun speculation ahead of us!

-CH

nyifyi@gmail.com